As Lewis Hamilton crossed the Korean finishing line in a lowly 10th position back in October, his championship hopes and the astro-turf both in tatters, it dawned on me why he took the seemingly strange decision to join Mercedes.

Put simply, McLaren hold Lewis back and cost him point scoring opportunities through less than optimal tactical decisions and general screw-ups. Sure he might get another championship or two with them were he to become a ‘lifer’ but perhaps he needed to move on to quell the growing sense of frustration and mounting mistrust.

Step forward Ross Brawn. Perhaps Lewis sees himself doing a Schumacher under Brawn’s stewardship, dominating the championship for years on end as the Mercedes team grows around him and cash flows in from Germany.

The world and F1 have changed just a little since those heady days, so surely they can’t ‘do a Brawn’ and leapfrog McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull overnight, let alone Renau… sorry Lotus. They’re virtually level-pegging with Sauber as it is. Their mutual hope is that the 2014 regs will enable them to do just this. And Adrian Newey is going to be doing what exactly over the winter of 2013, sledging and supping mulled wine?

As a Hamilton fan, I had pinned my hopes on Lewis replacing Webber at Red Bull in 2013 as I’m sure this would be his and any other driver’s ambition; to race the latest double (probably triple) world champ in the best car on the grid. That this didn’t happen can mean one of two things; that Vettel really isn’t going to Ferrari in 2013 and the Red Bull PR machine doesn’t want to even attempt to placate the desires of two of the three world’s best drivers in a confined pit garage, or that Red Bull just don’t want him full stop.

Too much of a liability in the commercial world of fizzy energy drinks where everything is chilled, cool and rad, though I’m sure Lewis’ Hip Hop chums would look great hovering around the Red Bull hospitality suite. Sticking it out at McLaren for one more year to land THE plum job would surely be preferable to years in the midfield at Mercedes, so those ‘casual’ meetings with Christian Horner must have proved fruitless.

I’m a little confused about Red Bull’s future line up if Vettel skips off to Italy and Webber to Queensland. Surely Red Bull need one of the top 3 in the team to maintain the flow of good results and associated positive PR. If not, which two likely lads will be drafted in?

Perhaps Alonso will swap seats with Seb. Don’t rule it out, peculiar things happen in F1. Lewis may even win a race next year.

Then there's the engine question:
Will McLaren get the Mercedes 2014 engine?
There are rumors that Honda might come back, and supply McLaren. I think there was a falling out between McLaren and Merc, hence why Merc bought their own team.
It could well be that Lewis knows more than we do?
Time will tell.